One of the goals of Great Lakes Balboa Escape is to help develop new balboa teachers and scene leaders. This event aims to help build the local, regional, national, and international balboa scene. This resource was created to support teacher trainees who attended Great Lakes Balboa Escape as well as other balboa teachers worldwide. The site contains responses to questions posed at Great Lakes Balboa Escape as well as additional videos, links, and articles to support novice and experienced balboa teachers. Please share this information with anyone who might be interested and consider attending the Balboa Teacher Training Track at Great Lakes Balboa Escape 2020. Register here.
Great Balboa Teacher Escape
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- What is the first thing you teach in a beginner lesson?
- Sample curricula (created by organizers and teachers in the Midwest region)
- Blank curriculum template
- Corey Manke’s Classic Balboa Moves spreadsheet
- What do you teach on day one of a beginner series?
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- What is the first thing you teach in a beginner lesson?
- Do you prefer to start (brand new students) with lollies or out and ins? Why?
- What do you teach before asking students to connect with a partner?
- How do you help beginners feel comfortable in close embrace?
- How do you get beginners to grow to social dancers?
- How do you introduce basic rhythms?
- How do you get other peer level dancers who only dance with better partners to “dance down” and dance with beginners?
- Dancing with newbies: Who should take the initiative?
- How to pick a video that gets people into dancing
- What do you teach on day one of a beginner series?
- What motivates a dancer to improve their dancing?
- Driven to dance: Motivation in partner dancing
- Research on motivation in dancing
- The brain and dancing
- Mustering their motivation: Strategies for engaging and inspiring students
- How do you encourage students to ask more questions?
- Growth mindset in dance
- How to set dance goals
- 10 ways to get the most out of your dance education
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- Tips for turning
- The proactive follower
- Balance
- Why leading is not more difficult than following and how to make it true
- Skills to build for followers
- The underappreciated skill: following
- How do you keep follows showing up to classes and practice?
- What it means to teach to follows
- Follows: Take charge of your own dancing
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- Differentiation in dance class
- What suggestions do you have for making classes useful for multiple levels?
- What suggestions do you have for making practices useful for multiple levels?
- How do you deal with imposter syndrome especially as a teacher? What if there are students in your class who are closer to your “level” and are less receptive to feedback?
- Using practice groups to build your balboa scene
- Questions for discussion in practice sessions
- Differentiating practice for mixed levels
- Practice Swing book
- 33 tips and actions to become a better swing dancer
- Balboa Trainer Speed Drill
- Lindyfit
- Mickey and Kelly videos
- Podcast on practice with Bobby White
- Podcast on finding a dance partner
- Goal Setting Worksheet
- Great Balboa Teacher Escape Facebook Group
- Teaching Balboa Facebook Group
- Balboa Teachers Unite Facebook Group (must be approved, must be currently teaching balboa)
- Teaching Swing Dance Facebook Group
- What is the best way to work around other local teachers who are uncooperative and are teaching outdated and poor technique?
- How did you grow your balboa scene?
- How can we grow leaders in our balboa scene?
- Can you build a scene by partnering with a Lindy scene? Or will that always make it second fiddle?
- How do you manage building a balboa scene within local dance politics?
- How do you build a balboa scene as a follower without a leader?
- How can newer dancers grow their balboa scene?
- How do you motivate more advanced dancers to help run things?
- How do you make your scene more pure balboa focused?
- Dancing with newbies: Who should take the initiative?
- How to be a volunteer coordinator
- Safe spaces: Removing someone from your venue
- Event organizing checklist
- How to rapidly grow your local dance
- What makes a good scene
- Building bridges, not fences
- Double your dance scene: Free webinar